Handcuffs On Success: Mississippi's School Discipline Crisis

Posted on: Friday January 25th, 2013

We've previously covered the horror story that is the school-to-prison pipeline in Meridian, MS. But the sad reality is that the injustices committed there – the heavy and unequal punishments levied for minor offenses, the absurd amount of police involvement in school discipline, the denial of due process rights to students – are happening across the state. A new report from our allies at the Mississippi NAACP, the ACLU, and the Advancement Projectreveals that "Mississippi is mired in an extreme school discipline crisis."

"Handcuffs on Success: The Extreme School Discipline Crisis in Mississippi Public Schools" details how public schools across the state "are hindering the success of children and youth by employing harsh and destructive disciplinary practices." Adding to the injustice, those harsh practices are disproportionately applied to students of color, which means they are being pushed out of school and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems at a far higher rate than their White peers.

Also check out this recent op-ed penned by Derrick Johnson, President of the MS NAACP, and Gina Womack, Executive Director of Families and Friends of Louisiana's Incarcerated Children, that lays out why the U.S. must dismantle the school-to-prison pipelines and put in place polices and practices the keep our students in school.